Keynote and special session

The World-wide Challenge of Pushing RespondentsTo the Web in Mixed-Mode Surveys
By
Don A. Dillman
Washington State Universitydillman@wsu.edu

In many countries, there has been a substantial increase in the use of mail contact with samples of the general public that request a selected member of the household to respond over the Internet. Because the option of responding by mail or some other mode is not offered until a later mailing, this procedure is often referred to as "web-push" data collection, a major goal of which is to reduce survey costs. In this presentation, experiments conducted by the presenter and others to develop an effective web-push methodology and subsequent efforts to further develop this methodology for use in government surveys will be discussed. This research suggests that web-push methods offer great promise for improving the quality and cost characteristics of surveys. It also suggests that many challenges exist that must be overcome in order to designing the most effective web-push designs. Recommendations for research needed for overcoming limitations associated with web-push surveying will be presented.

Special Session: challenges in web-push designs

Dr Dillman’s talk introduces the topic of our special session on push to web designs. Authors are encouraged to share their experiences with the use of advance letters, reminders, devices, QR codes, portals, technical support, etc. What are your views on the challenges, limitations and solutions. Papers should ideally not only focus on increasing web response rates, but also consider other quality considerations.